1904

Events of 1904

January - February

• January 7 - The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced two years later by SOS.
• January 12 - Henry Ford sets a new automobile land speed record of 91.37mph.
• January 16 - The first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
• February 7 - The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
• February 8 - A Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts Russo-Japanese War.
• February 10 - Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in Congo.
• February 23 - For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
• February 28 - Foundation of Sport Lisboa e Benfica.

March - April

• March 3 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a political recording of a document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
• March 4 - Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
• March 31 - British expedition to Tibet: Battle of Guru: British under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.
• April 8
• Entente Cordiale signed between the UK and France.
• Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
• April 19 - The Great Toronto Fire destroys much of that city's downtown, but there are no fatalities.
• April 27 - The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.
• April 30 - The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).

May - June

• May 4 - U.S. Army engineers begin work on The Panama Canal.
• May 5 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
• May 9 - GWR 3440 City of Truro becomes the first railway locomotive to exceed 100mph.
• May 21 - The International Federation of Association Football, FIFA, is established.
• June 10 - Irish author James Joyce meets his future wife Nora Barnacle.
• June 15 - A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1021.
• June 16 - Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
• June 16 - James Joyce walks to Ringsend with Nora Barnacle; he later used this date (Bloomsday) as the setting for his novel Ulysses.
• June 28 - The Danish ocean liner SS Norge runs aground and sinks close to Rockall, killing 635, including 225 Norwegian emigrants.
• June 29 - The 1904 Moscow tornado occurs.

July - August

• July 1 - The third Modern Olympic Games opens in St. Louis, Missouri, USA as part of the World's Fair.
• July 21 - The Trans-Siberian railway is completed.
• July 23 - In St. Louis, Missouri, the ice cream cone is invented during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
• August 3 - British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.
• August 14 - Ismael Montes becomes President of Bolivia.
• August 17 - Russo-Japanese War: Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.
• August 18 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.

September - October

• September 7 - British expedition to Tibet: The Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with Colonel Francis Younghusband.
• October 15 - Theta Tau, the Professional Engineering Fraternity, is founded at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• October 19 - Polytechnic University of the Philippines is founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.
• October 21 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian Baltic Fleet fires on British trawlers it mistakes for Japanese torpedo boats in the North Sea, in what would be known as the Dogger Bank incident.
• October 27 - The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens.

November - December

• November 4 - In Florence, Italy, the Arno River floods.
• November 8 - Theodore Roosevelt defeats Alton B. Parker in the U.S. presidential election.
• November 24 - The first successful caterpillar track is made (it would later revolutionize construction vehicles and land warfare).
• December 2 - St. Petersburg Soviet urges run on the banks: the attempt fails and the executive committee is arrested.
• December 3 - Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, Himalia.
• December 4 - KU or Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) in Denmark is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen.
• December 10 - Founding of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.
• December 27 - The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premieres in London.
• December 30 - East Boston Tunnel opens.
• December 31 - In New York City, the first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square.

Undated

• Herero Wars begin.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a "Second Manifesto" against polygamy.
• Subject of alcohol and heart attacks first investigated.
• Loftus Road and Griffin Park football stadiums open.
• Stuyvesant High School is founded in New York City.

Ongoing

• Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
• 1904-1905 Welsh Revival

Births

January-February

• January 1 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)
• January 3 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)
• January 10 - Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
• January 13 - Richard Addinsell, British composer (d. 1977)
• January 14 - Cecil Beaton, English photographer (d. 1980)
• January 18 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
• January 22
• George Balanchine, Russian-born choreographer (d. 1983)
• Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (d. 1941)
• January 26
• Ancel Keys, American scientist (d. 2004)
• Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1988)
• January 27 - J. J. Gibson, American psychologist (d. 1979)
• January 28 - Canuplin, Filipino magician and bodabil entertainer (d. 1979)
• January 29 - Arnold Gehlen, German philosopher (d. 1976)
• February 1 - S. J. Perelman, American humorist and author (d. 1979)
• February 3
• Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
• Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
• February 4 - MacKinlay Kantor, American writer and historian (d. 1977)
• February 11 - Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)
• February 16
• George F. Kennan, American diplomat (d. 2005)
• Philip Rabinowitz (runner), South African record breaking sprinter (d. 2008)
• February 20 - Aleksei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
• February 29 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)

March-April

• March 1 - Glenn Miller, American bandleader (d. 1944)
• March 2 - Dr. Seuss, American children's author (d. 1991)
• March 4
• George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (d. 1968)
• Joseph Schmidt, Austrian-Hungarian tenor and actor (d. 1942)
• Chief Tahachee (actor), American-born stage and film actor (d. 1978)
• March 7 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official (d. 1942)
• March 14 - Doris Eaton Travis, American actress
• March 20 - B. F. Skinner, American behavioral psychologist (d. 1990)
• March 22 - Itche Goldberg, Yiddish author (d. 2006)
• March 26
• Gustave Biéler, Swiss-born hero of World War II (executed) (d. 1944)
• Joseph Campbell, American author on mythology (d. 1987)
• Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
• April 1 - Nikolai Berzarin, Russian Red Army General (d.1945)
• April 3 - Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (d. 1979)
• April 8 - John Hicks, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
• April 9 - Sharkey Bonano, American jazz musician (d. 1972)
• April 14 - Sir John Gielgud, English actor (d. 2000)
• April 15 - Arshile Gorky, Armenian-born painter (d. 1948)
• April 16 - Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
• April 22 - Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1967)
• April 24 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (d. 1997)
• April 26 - Jimmy McGrory, Scottish footballer (d. 1982)
• April 27 - Cecil Day-Lewis, English poet (d. 1972)
• April 29 - Pedro Vargas, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1989)

May-June

• May 6
• Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born engineer (d. 1984)
• Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
• May 8 - John Snagge, British radio personality (d. 1996)
• May 11 - Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)
• May 17 - Jean Gabin, French actor (d. 1976)
• May 21
• Fats Waller, American pianist and comedian (d. 1943)
• Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (d. 1981)
• May 27 - Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (d. 1997)
• June 2
• Frantisek Planicka, Czech footballer (d. 1996)
• Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
• June 3 - Jan Peerce, American tenor (d. 1984)
• June 6 - Francisco López Merino, Argentine poet (d. 1928)
• June 26 - Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born film actor (d. 1964)

July-August

• July 5 - Ernst Mayr, German-born biologist and author (d. 2005)
• July 6 - Erik Wickberg, General of The Salvation Army (d. 1996)
• July 8 - Henri Cartan, French mathematician (d. 2008)
• July 12 - Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
• July 15 - Rudolf Arnheim, German-born author (d. 2007)
• July 28 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
• August 4 - Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
• August 7 - Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971)
• August 12 - Tsarevich Alexei of Russia (d. 1918)
• August 16 - Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• August 17
• Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
• Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
• August 21 - Count Basie, American musician and bandleader (d. 1984)
• August 22 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese leader (d. 1997)
• August 23
• Viscountess Furness, American socialite twin (d. 1970)
• Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, American socialite twin (d. 1965)
• August 28 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (d. 1980)
• August 29 - Werner Forssmann, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1979)

September-October

• September 9 - Feroze Khan, Pakistani field hockey player (d. 2005)
• September 22 - Joseph Valachi, American gangster (d. 1971)
• September 29 - Greer Garson, English actress (d. 1996)
• October 1
• A.K. Gopalan, Indian communist leader (d. 1977)
• Irene Craigmile Bolam, American Amelia Earhart look-alike/believed alias(d. 1982)
• October 3 - Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
• October 9 - Wally Brown, American actor and comedian (d. 1961)
• October 20 - Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician (d. 1986)
• October 23 - Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)
• October 25 - Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (d. 1968)
• October 27 - Erno Schwarz, Hungarian American soccer player (d. 1974)

November-December

• November 2 - Louis Eugène Félix Néel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
• November 4 - Tadeusz Żyliński, Polish technician and textilist (d. 1967)
• November 11 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (d. 1960)
• November 12 - Jacques Tourneur, French director (d. 1977)
• November 14
• Dick Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1963)
• Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1988)
• November 16 - Nnamdi Azikiwe, President of Nigeria (d. 1996)
• November 25
• Lillian Copeland, American athlete (d. 1964)
• Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (d. 2000)
• November 30 - Clyfford Still, American painter (d. 1980)
• December 6 - Eve Curie, French author (d. 2007)
• December 12 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-born magazine editor and socialite (d. 1981)
• December 18 - George Stevens, American film director (d. 1975)
• December 24 - Joseph M. Juran, American engineer and philanthropist (d. 2008)
• December 25 - Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• December 26 - Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
• December 30 - Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (d. 1987)
• December 31 - Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)
• date unknown
• Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (d. 1991)
• Tevfik Esenç, Turkish-born last speaker of the Ubykh language (d. 1992)

Deaths

January - June

• January 2 - January 10 - Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter (b. 1824)
• January 20 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist (b. 1834)
• February 8 - Alfred Ainger, English biographer (b. 1837)
• February 22 - Leslie Stephen, English writer and critic (b. 1832)
• March 5 - John Lowther du Plat Taylor, British founder of the Army Post Office Corps (b. 1829)
• March 17 - Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, grandson of King George III (b. 1819)
• April 10 - Queen Isabella II of Spain (b. 1830)
• May 1 - Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)
• May 8 - Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and motion picture pioneer (b. 1830)
• May 10 - Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh explorer and journalist (b. 1841)
• May 19 - Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)
• June 4 - George Frederick Phillips, Canadian-born military hero (b. 1862)
• June 12 - Camille de Renesse, Belgian Count (b. 1836)

July - December

• July 3 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of Zionism (b. 1860)
• July 5 - Abai Kunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet (b. 1845)
• July 14
• Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (b. 1860)
• Paul Kruger, South African resistance leader (b. 1825)
• July 22 - Wilson Barrett, English actor (b. 1846)

• August 6 - Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825)
• August 16 - Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, American author of dime fiction (b. 1843)
• August 22 - Kate Chopin, American author (b. 1851)
• August 25 - Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (b. 1836)
• August 29 - Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1840)
• September 26
• Lafcadio Hearn, American-Japanese author (b. 1850)
• John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (b. 1848)
• October 4
• Frédéric Bartholdi, Alsatian sculptor (b. 1834)
• Laurence Hope, English poetess (b. 1865)
• October 21 - Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss-Algerian explorer (b. 1877)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - The Lord Rayleigh
• Chemistry - Sir William Ramsay
• Physiology or Medicine - Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
• Literature - Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray Y Eizaguirre
• Peace - Institut De Droit International

Notes